The largest land owner in New Hampshire, Dartmouth owns and maintains a vast network of wooden cabins and trails across the state. Since 1937, these have been used to introduce Dartmouth freshmen to their new environment. This year, for the first time, Tuck organized similar trips for incoming students. I’ve just returned from one this morning. Boy, does it feel good to be clean again!
The Appalachian Trail (AT), a hiking route that extends from Georgia to Maine, passes along Main Street, Hanover, and extends in both directions into magnificent rural New England. AT through hikers spend around six months completing the journey, during which times they grow comprehensive beards, acquire exotic scents, and assume trail names as a temporary replacement for their birth names. We met such characters as Blueberry, OneLove, Troglodyte (”You can call me ‘Trog’ for short”) and Avatar.
We started the week with a ropes course at nearby Storrs Pond. We were then driven to Mount Moosilauke and hiked around 10-15 miles south along the AT each day, over five mountains, weighed down with heavy packs, to our eventual destination – the palatial ‘Class of ‘66 lodge’. There, we met and feasted with new classmates who had completed shorter, less gruelling schedules, all aimed at introducing the opportunities for canoeing, hiking, camping, and climbing that exist on our back door.
Initially, the mix of accents in our group caused some confusion: “Did you say ‘beers’, ‘bears’, or ‘berries’?” and “Was that ‘girl’, ‘grill’, or ‘gorilla’?” There were tough decisions to be made along the way: Should we stay as one group or go in smaller groups at our own pace? Should we risk nightfall and continue over another mountain to reach the next cabin or set up camp in the forest and accept a longer hike the next day? These matters seem trivial in the clean, well-rested world of my study, but can be fractious and emotive when everyone is worn out and rain drenched. The camaraderie and lance tilting that ensued were impressive and it was, no doubt, apt preparation for our study groups in Fall Term. Adversity brought us together and, already, any misery has been banished to the back of our minds by the shared jokes and frequent, raucous laughter. We discussed politics, poop, and everything in between. Irreverent jokes followed discussions of Hemingway and Frost. I have a great group of new friends, who are each remarkable, accomplished individuals.
For prospective T’13s, I cannot recommend highly enough that you embrace this new Tuck tradition and get involved next year.
Read the full article: Starting a new tradition